October 18, 1868. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
359 
farm produce would bring, tbe charges on the land are raised ! Now it 
would seem only fair if the charges on land are calculated according to 
value of the annual crop the planter of fruit trees should pay nothing 
for the first four years. 
4, Sorts. —Of large fruit grown for profit Apples would seem to 
stand first, Plums next, then Pears, then Cherries. Of small fiuits, 
Strawberries, Raspberries, Currants, and Gooseberries are the most 
important; Filberts may also be planted to give a profitable crop in odd 
sheltered spots where other fruits would not grow well. But these 
different fruits do not all require precisely the same climate and soil. 
The Apple is perhaps the least particular in these respects, some varieties 
of which will thrive and produce large crops of good fruit in almost any 
well-drained soil when grafted or budded on the Crab or Apple stock. 
The Paradise stock I have found next to useless under field culture on 
the clayey soils of Sussex. There are fifteen sorts of Apples which I 
should plant in preference to others in my own county (Hertfordshire), 
having an eye to the disposal of the crop as well as to its production. 
They are—Blenheim Orange, Cox’s Orange Pippin, Cox’s Pomona, 
Devonshire Quarrenden, Ecklinville, Duchess of Oldenbnrgh, Irish Peach, 
Keswick Codlin, King of the Pippins, Lord Suffield, Small’s Admirable, 
Stirling Castle, Sturmer Pippin, Warner’s King, and Wellington. 
I can speak favourably of the Ecklinville from experiments made 
both in Herts and Sussex. I planted in Sussex four years ago 200 
Ecklinville Apples that had been cut back as maidens to 2J feet. The 
soil (a quarter of an acre) was good, and had been subsoiled 18 inches 
deep a few years previously. They grew well. The third year they 
produced 5 bushels, the fourth year 17 bushels, which sold on the ground 
5s. per bushel. They were planted about 6 feet by 6 feet, but strong 
growers might be planted 9 feet by 9 feet, and small fruits or vegetables 
might be grown between the trees for a few years. I estimate the 
expenses of planting and cultivating these 200 Ecklinville Apple trees 
on a quarter of an acre of ground in 1884 as follows :— 
Cost of trees, 200 at 50s. per hundred .£5 0 0 
Planting and digging . 0 15 0 
Four years’ cultivation, at 15s. per year. 3 0 0 
Rent, rates, &c., at 10s. per year . 2 0 0 
£10 15 
Returns in 1888 :— 
Twenty-two bushels of Apples sold on the ground, 
at 5s. per bushel .£5 10 
0 
0 
£5 5 0 
Next year I expect to get the outlay back, and look to the future for 
profits. 
In exposed situations pyramid or bush trees are preferable to 
standards, because the fruit is not so liable to be blown down, and in 
large orchards, if the trees have stems 2| to 3 feet, sheep could run 
under them to feed, and thus help the returns. 
Plums. —The Early Prolific, Early Orleans, The Czar, Belgian, and 
the Victoria are good ones. Purple and Persliore Damsons also, of 
which the Farleigh is well to the front, are usually a profitable crop. 
Pears want a better climate and a warmer, richer, and deeper soil 
than Apples, and are not usually so profitable a crop as Apples. They 
do well as a rule on a subsoil of chalk. Of Pears, Aston Town, Eye- 
wood, Hessle, Williams’ Bon Chretien, Beurrd de Capiaumont, and 
Beurrb d’Amanlis are the most profitable sorts to grow in Hertfordshire; 
Louise Bonne of Jersey, where it will grow, and Marie Louise, where it 
will bear freely, are also good varieties. 
Cherries like a ligh'er and deeper soil than Apples. The May 
Duke, Bigarreau, Napoleon, and Kentish are good sorts. 
Strawberries. —Vicomtesse Hericart de Thury, Sir J. Paxton, 
Elton Pine, President, Sir Chas. Napier. 
Raspberries. —Carter’s Prolific, Fastolf. 
Currants. —Black Naples, Lee’s Prolific, Red Dutch. 
Gooseberries. —Whitesmith, Warrington, Crown Bob, Lancashire 
Lad. 
In selecting sorts of fruits it should not be lost sight of that some 
sorts flower later than others, and the blossoms of some sorts are more 
frost proof than others, and thus the crop is often saved by late-flower¬ 
ing or frost-resisting blossoms. If I were about to plant fruit trees for 
profit I should look closely to these matters in the selection of sorts. I 
would also examine all the fruit trees and talk to all the practical 
gardeners in the neighbourhood whom 1 could persuade to listen 
to ascertain which sorts produced the best and most certain crops in the 
district. 
In conclusion, let me say that the grower’s work is only partly done 
when he gathers his crops. He has to sell them. Like other men of 
business he must be sufficiently intelligent, industrious and energetic to 
find the best market for them, and to pack them properly, if packing is 
needed, or he misses the reward of his skill and labour. 
DESSERT PEARS. 
THE FEWEST NECESSARY TO SUPPLY RIPE FRUIT FROM 
AUGUST TO MARCH. 
By Mr. W. Wildsmith, Heckfield, Hants. 
The subject of this paper was suggested to my mind by the con* 
troversy anent the reduction of the varieties of fruits—Pears in 
particular—that took place in one of the horticultural journals a few 
months since. The general tone of that discussion went to show that 
there was a unanimous feeling in favour of reducing the number of 
varieties, but to what extent opinions differed greatly, twelve being 
suggested by more than one writer as the maximum number of varieties, 
a proposition that in some respects I had a good deal of sympathy with, 
but the number twelve ended so far as I was concerned simply because 
I knew from years of experience that no twelve kinds that could be 
named by the greatest expert in Pear lore would suffice to give an un¬ 
broken succession of ripe fruit throughout the Pear season, say from 
beginning of August to middle of March. That twelve kinds might be 
selected that would extend over the Pear season is quite another matter. 
I have long had the honour to serve an employer whose favourite fruit 
is the Pear, and consequently have had to give special attention to it, 
and if one point more than another has had to be studied it is that of 
quality, a solitary flavourless fruit of an otherwise good variety has not 
unseldom been the cause of the condemnation of the variety generally. 
I name this to show that my experience has been gained at some cost of 
labour and anxiety, and at the risk of being considered egotistical I 
think this entitles me to speak with some degree of confidence anent 
this matter of limitation of sorts. Every fruit grower knows how 
precarious and how variable the Pear is in different soils, aspects, and 
positions, and no twelve kinds, however good they may be in one garden 
or district, will be equally so in another, even but a mile or two away, 
nor even in the same garden can they be relied on to be of the same ex¬ 
cellence any two consecutive years, and it is this precariousness that I 
think renders it necessary to grow a goodly number of varieties. For 
the purpose of this paper I have closely examined the Pear notes in my 
diary for several years, in which is noted date of gathering, of ripening, 
and duration— i.e., time they continued fit for table, and from these 
notes I have compiled a list of twelve that, supposing I was compelled 
to grow only that number of kinds, would be likely to give me the most 
regular (not constant) succession of fruit. They are placed in the order 
in which they ripened here. Williams’ Bon Chretien, Fondante 
d’Automne, Beurrd Superfin, Marie Louise, Thompson’s, Doyennd dn 
Comice, Glou Morgeau, Winter Nelis, Josephine de Malines, Huyshe’s- 
Victoria, Easter Beurre, and Bergamotte Esperen. 
These twelve constitute the cream of all the varieties (nearly one 
hundred) that are grown here, and out of the twelve there are but 
two that are at all liable to prove of doubtful quality, and this from a 
cause over which we have no control-namely, a sunless season. The 
two kinds in question are Easter Beurre and Bergamotte Esperen, both 
of them late varieties, and requiring a longer season of sunshine than 
the others. I may, however, add that I have occasionally in a sunless 
season had recourse to means that has tended to make both of the 
kinds palatable—namely, by wrapping the fruit separately in tissue 
paper, and placing them in shallow baskets in a dry warm room for 
ten days or a fortnight before the fruit were required for use. And 
now with respect to the question of the number of varieties “ neces¬ 
sary to ensure a continuous supply of ripe fruit.” I have, after con¬ 
siderable deliberation, founded on the practical experience of many 
years, come to the conclusion that it is next to impossible to accom¬ 
plish the feat with a less number than twenty-five varieties. To some 
this number may appear excessive, and to such I ought to explain that 
my experience is given from the standpoint of a private gentleman s 
gardener - say of a large garden—and from which liberal supplies of 
Pears are demanded the season through, and therefore it is necessary 
to have, as it were, two strings to one bow ; as, for instance, if W il- 
liams’ Bon Chretien Pear run short, I ought to have Benrrd de 
l’Assomption to supply the lack ; or if Marie Louise be scarce, I must 
eke out with Beurre Bose, and so on, to the end of the chapter. 
I regret that I have not practically tested with how few it is possible 
to keep up a constant supply, but I am sure I should fail if I undertook 
the task with a less number than twenty-five, and the following are 
their names, and placed in order of ripening Souvenir du Congres, 
